Q Acoustics Q Active 400: new wireless floorstanding speakers
We talked about the first wireless models of acoustics by Q Acoustics back in the fall of last year. And if the Q Active 200 bookshelf speakers were released at about the same time, then the floorstanding version with the 400 index had to wait. And so the company Q Acoustics announced the availability of the Q Active 400 floorstanding wireless speakers.
The Q Active line was designed with the clear intention of offering an uncompromising versatile system that can play music from any source – TV, network streamer, smartphone, laptop or even a turntable.
The heart of the system is a compact Control Hub integrated into a home computer network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It can work either through the built-in Google Chromecast, or Amazon Works comes with Alexa voice assistant for each pair of speakers. This way, you can connect to a variety of wired and wireless sources and use voice commands to control playback.
The system supports Ethernet, Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth. In addition, supported technologies and interfaces include Chromecast, Roon, Spotify Connect, HDMI ARC, optical digital interface, and analog stereo input. Moreover, the latter can be configured as a Phono input for direct connection of a turntable equipped with a moving magnet (MM) cartridge. Through digital interfaces, the central unit is ready to receive content with a resolution of up to 32 bit / 192 kHz, however, the maximum broadcast resolution to speakers is limited to 24 bit / 96 kHz.
In addition, the Q Active 400 supports a wide variety of streaming services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, and Tidal. Moreover, navigation through the music library and playback control can be done from the own application of each service, including multi-room control. The Q Active 400 can also function as a UPnP media player capable of streaming your digital music library from a computer or NAS server.
The Q Active 400 powered loudspeakers feature eight discrete class D amplifiers. As with the Q Active 200 bookshelf speakers, the Q Active 400 features two 2.25-inch Balanced Mode Radiators (BMR), offset to the side of the speaker centerline … On the back of the cabinet are two 4.5-inch subwoofers supplemented with waveguides – one at the top of the speaker and one at the bottom. The total power of the amplifiers is an impressive 440 watts.
There are two switches on the back of the speaker systems: using the first, you can select the channel that will serve a particular speaker – right or left. The second is to calibrate the bass response based on the location of the speakers in the room.
The Q Acoustics Q Active 400 wireless loudspeakers are available in matt white or matt black finishes. In the UK, the new product can be purchased for £2,299, and in Europe, the speakers are sold for 2,999 euros.
